The Florida baseball team scratched its way back from a seven-run deficit against Tennessee to cut the lead to one run.
UF trailed 9-8 in the bottom of the eighth inning with the tying run in Brady McConnell standing on second base.
But it would be just another failed comeback bid if the Gators didn’t plate at least one run in the final two frames.
Nelson Maldonado made sure that didn’t happen.
The designated hitter blasted his second home run of the night over the bleachers in left field to put Florida ahead by one. That lead held.
The Gators scored eight unanswered runs to take a 10-9 victory on Friday night in Game 1 of its final home series of the season against the Volunteers.
“You certainly don’t know that you’re going to come back and score double digits, especially against their pitching staff who has been good the whole year long,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said in a release. “But we battled and battled and had some big at bats.”
UF (30-21, 10-15 SEC) survived another poor start from Tommy Mace. Florida’s right-handed starter threw fewer than six innings just once in his first seven starts this season, but in his past six starts, he has failed to get into the fifth inning three times.
Mace lasted just 3.1 innings on Friday, and all nine runs Tennessee scored came with him on the mound. He also allowed 10 hits and struck out just two batters.
Florida led 2-1 after the first inning, but did not regain the lead until Maldonado’s eighth-inning homer.
UF right fielder Wil Dalton hit a two-RBI single in the bottom of the first to put the Gators ahead after the Volunteers scored a run in the first inning on an error.
Tennessee (33-17, 10-15 SEC) took over after that.
Mace worked a three up, three down inning in the second, but faced eighteen batters in the next two innings and only managed four outs.
During that frame, the Volunteers plated eight runs on nine hits.
Tennessee left fielder Alerick Soularie led the offensive outburst. He had two RBI singles and a run scored in the third and fourth inning rallies.
Soularie finished the night 3 for 5 with two RBIs and two runs.
The Gators cut into the Volunteers’ lead in the fourth and fifth innings with a run apiece -- on a McConnell RBI single and a solo home run from McConnell -- but the real comeback came in the seventh inning.
UF plated four runs to bring the game to within one. Two of those runs came on a two-RBI single by second baseman Jacob Young with two outs. First baseman Kendrick Calilao hit a sacrifice fly earlier in the inning and McConnell scored when Dalton was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Maldonado put Florida over the hump in the eighth inning and Nolan Crisp closed the game in the ninth.
Crisp earned his fourth win after throwing two scoreless innings. Crisp relieved Kirby McMullen, who provided valuable innings out of the bullpen, tossing 3.2 scoreless frames.
“Quite honestly, we probably don’t win the ballgame if Kirby McMullen doesn’t throw up 3.2 scoreless,” O’Sullivan said. “You just never know.”
Tennessee’s output on the mound was comparable to Florida’s, as the Gators scored most of their runs off starter Garrett Stallings, but its bullpen was not perfect like the Gators.
Florida out-hit Tennessee 14-13 but also had eight more strikeouts than the Volunteers (12-4).
This dramatic come-from-behind victory over a competitive SEC foe keeps Florida’s narrow postseason hopes alive. O’Sullivan has alluded to the “magic number” for wins in the SEC to be around 14 or 15 for Florida to punch a ticket to the NCAA Baseball Tournament. With 10 conferences wins and just five games remaining, that does not leave much room for error.
Contact Kyle Wood at kwood@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @Kkylewood.
Gators DH Nelson Maldonado hit a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure Florida's 10-9 comeback win on Friday.
